Rock ‘N’ Roll’s birth came after the Great Depression and World War II. It was in the 50’s called the baby boomers that started it all. It expanded the teenage population with 3.4 million babies born. The 1950’s scrap the ideology of a conservative family, where the father is the bread winner and the mother was a stay home mother. The young adults found an escape and enjoyment in Rock ‘N’ Roll.
Rock ‘N’ Roll started from Southern Blacks slaves that migrated to the North. They brought in a sound of Rhythm and Blues. In it they talked about their hardships in the plantation and to end discrimination. It represented the life of the African-American working in the south. Rhythm and blues was a slow steady beat; it had a 2-4 beat drum and saxophone. The music was feel good music. During the 40’s and 50’s rhythm and blues were finally recognized by radio stations and record labels. It was in Memphis that the first ever radio station called the WDIA played for blacks only. The radio station was a big hit. All over the state wanted to appeal to the Negro Community.
The invention of radio and television made it easy to listen to black music. It was then the massive production of radio and television, every American household had at least one. Even from the massive production of radio and television R&B was still not accepted from mainstream radio. Big companies like Capitol, Columbia, and MGM, and etc. were still in pop music, so R&B was labeled as indie music. Soon America was slowly breaking the barriers for segregation. A lot more white Americans were listening to R&B. But to be able to purchase the record itself was difficult; they did not sell R&B records in American suburban. They had to purchase them from the Dolphin Record Store ...
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...rovocative and raunchy lyrics. Songs like Work with me, Anne and Sixty Minute Man soared through R&B charts. The minute they were released they charted as number one. Since many teenagers purchased and listen to lewd type of music, many campaign to ban sexually explicit music. They wanted to keep radios and record stores to sell clean songs. Even the U.S. Senate and House of Representative drafted a bill to forbid the transportation of lewd and filthy music. If they were to break the rule they were to pay $5,000 dollars or be in prison for five years.
Record companies still wanting to sell music tried to keep it squeaky clean. By 1955 most of the R&B music was clean. It was when artist realize they can write songs about teenage puppy love. The feeling of experiencing first love and breakups. Sands song Teenage Crush was the metaphor of what teenagers were feeling.
This book provides a very detailed outline on how and where rock and roll originated. It places much emphasis on the transition from Black to White rock artists and how society reacted to this change. Szatmary also presents sufficient information on the many aspects of rock and roll, ranging from what the lyrics are about, to the beginnings of rock and roll and new age rock.
Not only did race relations play a big factor in the 1950s, it was a start to a lot of controversy in the beginning between African Americans and whites. They connected with each other because of the style of the music. This type of music deeply emphasized integration for African Americans and also during this time they were trying to gain civil rights. “At the center of that struggle, rock-n-roll unsettled a nation that had been “living in an ‘age of anxiety’” since 1945 (All Shook Up, 7). Most artists were criticized and punished for not supporting their own races and staying within their boundaries.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People brought a lawsuit challenging the ruling, stating schools could be segregated. Teens in America became attracted to the rock and roll music, despite what their parents or religion said about it. Students were especially attracted to the music of Elvis Presley, who was originally discovered by the record producer, Sam Phillips. Many parents were shocked by the sexual types of dancing that rock and roll encouraged and commanded their children to stop listening to. Teenage love for rock and roll reveals how America challenged the status quo because no one would listen to music that seemed sexual or rebellious.
Many considered Rock ‘n’ Roll culture as a bad influence to all people, but as the genre aged and the now not-so-young crowds had matured, Rock was respected and appreciated by most of America for it was now seen as a legitimate art form. As for its creators, there is no one other than the greats of race music to thank for that. A time of shift involving a large number of African-Americans migrating to cities in the north. This was due to the aspiration of finding new life away from the south.
...romotion of black consciousness it is clear that these two labels were working towards the same goal: to empower their black audience by emitting waves of black consciousness through their music. Both labels also used the same strategy of using lyrics that were laden with innuendos, despite their very different reasons for doing so. Their combined effort helped soul music develop its inherent and inseparable connection to the black struggle of the 1960s and their legitimacy as music powerhouses aided in spreading soul music to every corner of the United States of America. And although there was no immediate economic or political changes, the efforts of these two labels did not go unnoticed. Their impact on black consciousness would serve as the driver for the continued fight against the black struggle in hopes of one day achieving those economic and political changes.
Rock n’ Roll is a type of music that came about in the late 50’s. Before that, there was no music that resembled Rock n’ Roll; instead, folk and other genres dominated. Then the Korean War ended. Shortly thereafter, the Vietnam War began, and with it came a new type of music, featuring hateful songs and concerts. The introduction and evolution of rock and roll music from the late 50’s and 60’s made a generation more violent both physically and verbally.
Music has continued to change throughout each decade, but the 1960s was the most influential decade in the history of music. Starting in the early 1950s, rock music was first introduced. Major record labels were releasing new “cover songs” which were originally made by black artist, but now by white artist (Rock and Roll). These cover songs changed a few lyrics from the original songs to avoid copyright issues and to also make the song more appropriate for the white listeners. The biggest star of the 1950s was Elvis Presley, who was known as the “King of rock n’ roll”.
The development of Rock ‘n’ Roll in the late 1940s and early 1950s by young African Americans coincided with a sensitive time in America. Civil rights movements were under way around the country as African Americans struggles to gain equal treatment and the same access to resources as their white neighbors. As courts began to vote in favor of integration, tensions between whites and blacks escalated. As the catchy rhythm of Rock ‘n’ Roll began to cross racial boundaries many whites began to feel threatened by the music, claiming its role in promoting integration. This became especially problematic as their youth became especially drawn to ...
During this era, as Chicano music was trying to become more popular, it just want happening. Certain factors were not allowing for that to happen, a big part of the Chicano music not reaching it’s popularity level was the fact that R&B music and African American performers were more popular. Companies did not trust the Chicano music in the sense that it they did not believe it would not sell so they stuck to the African Americans and R&B instead. Another big factor were the demographics, there was more blacks spread throughout the country, rather Chicanos were mainly in the Southwest area. Chicanos were having a big struggle when it came to getting their records on labels, they went through a lot of compromise that for the most part was not beneficial to them, but rather the record label.
Rock and Roll has the most incredible history. Before there was rock and roll, there was blues. Most people think rock music started with Elvis Presley, but he didn’t record his first single until 1953. The first recorded song described as “Genuine Rock-and-Roll” was “Rocket ’88” by pianist Ike Turner and singer Jackie Brenston in 1951. Rock-and-Roll music in the 1950’s was described as a mixture of jazz, blues, country, and has a strong guitar, bass, and drums.
It became less about the outwardly racist and degrading stereotypes and became more about black artists being pushed to the side with their work covered by white artists. The most obvious example is the Rock N Roll revolution. Rock N Roll was marketed to teenagers as a way to command attention and was seen as a way of rebellion: Elvis Presley’s gyrating hips and abundance of sex appeal at the forefront. There is no doubt that Elvis Presley was a great performer and arguably the first real rock star. He was able to command a stage and have a room full of women scream at the top of their lungs with just one note. Doesn’t mean that he all those notes were his. For instance, Hound Dog, one of Elvis’s most recognizable songs was also a cover. The original artist, Big Mama Thornton, wrote the song in… and never got to see her version reach a fraction of the fame Elvis’s did. In fact “as to her royalties she says, “I got one check for $500 and I never seen another. (235)” Elvis’s version of Hound Dog sold roughly 2 million
Rock and Roll was the start of a new revolution in America. It introduced the world to many of the famous artists that continue to be a part of our lives today. "Artists who became popular in the 1950s such as Elvis, began to pave the way for others such as Jerry Lee Lewis and Buddy Holly" (The History of Rock 'n' Roll until 1960). With the introduction of rock 'n' roll, there came many new changes to the lives of many Americans. Rock and Roll was a major contributor for the change in teens' behavior in the 1950s because it encouraged new freedoms for teenagers, encouraged new fads among teenagers, and caused a generation gap.
Many people and many styles of music influenced Rock and Roll. The styles included Blues, Jazz, Gospel, Bluegrass, Boogie-Woogie, and Rockabilly. Each was a major factor into the introduction of a new style of music called Rock ‘N’ Roll.
When Rock arrived on the music charts in the 1950's, a merging of African-American and White music, it made a huge impact on society. As a general rule I am not heavily into music, but I was drawn to Rock for some inexplicable reason. It is just the music I like. This genre will be difficult to write about because the origin of Rock is unclear; there are traces of Rock's style back into the 19th Century. It is also a very broad subject and I will have to compress a lot of information into as few pages as possible. Be that as it may, Rock is, in my opinion the best music genre on the charts.
Rhythm and blues, also known as R&B, is something that I really enjoy. I am a singer and along with country music, R&B is my favorite thing to sing. With rhythm and blues, there is a song for every emotion, so most of the time the songs can be very relatable. The songs have a variety of subjects like sex, work, and even drinking. In this paper I will briefly discuss how rhythm and blues started, how it evolved into today’s music and why I like it so much.